Lord of the Flies cover art

Lord of the Flies

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Lord of the Flies

By: William Golding
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
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About this listen

Newly remastered with additional sound design to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Lord of the Flies.

A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.

First Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern classics

'The first book with hands - strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.' ... I've been thinking about it ever since, for fifty years and more.' Stephen King

'One of my favorite books - I read it every couple of years.' Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games

'A post-apocalyptic, dystopian survivor-fantasy ... [A novel] for all time ... A cult classic.' Guardian

©1954 William Golding (P)2012 Faber Audio Classics Coming of Age Genre Fiction Scary

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All stars
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A very well told story of descent into savagery. This is one of those "I really should read" books, which I am very glad I did.
Every part of this story is etched into my mind by the author's descriptive artistry brought to life by Martin Jarvis' exceptional story telling. I can still see Piggy quite clearly when I recollect the book, along with the pig trails in the jungle and the boys camp next to the shallow rock pool.
If you have any desire to read this book then I doubt it will be a disappointment.

There's a reason it's a classic

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I have discovered that listening to this book, as well as reading it, has helped my teenage son enormously with his absorption of this story for his GCSE. We listened to it as a family and were able to debate the topics raised in the book which made the whole book more interesting for him and created some brilliant dinner table debates.

Great story and it is beautifully read by William Golding.

Beautifully read

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Well read. Took me back to reading it several decades ago! Thrilling ending. Listened to it in the car with my ten year old. Couple of dodgy words in it eg N word but more a sign of when it was written.

Some iffy language but a good story still

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I read this at school and thought it was ok. I had forgotten most of it in the 40 odd years since then. Such a well written book with characters that seem so real. It reads almost like a parable. There is a subtext of social commentary there and it reminded me a bit of Animal Farm in parts. There was one word bleeped out which surprised me and of course I was left wondering what that word might be…. The narrator was great. I found the posh accent and but much in parts but the boys did seem to be middle class boys from a boarding school so maybe fair enough. Really excellent novel and I got so much out of it with my more mature brain than I did as a young teenager reading it at school

Forgot how good this is

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Really solid novel, really solid narration.

Dropping a single star on performance because the narrator really does make Piggy's voice so irritating. but, in line with the character, I understand this choice :)

Just do it!

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I found this really difficult to listen with the awful voices for some of the characters especially pigy.

Annoying voices for some characters

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First time reading/listening to this classic. Absolutely fantastic, narration makes the story come to life.

Brilliant!

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The performance and story is fine but there seems to be some words at the beginning of sentences lost in the recording. it's very annoying.

Ok but annoying recording issue.

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I Loved it, the way the narrator read it made it far more exciting than simply reading it at home. It was great to be able to listen to it on the go.

Great novel and very well narrated

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Despite being over 70 years old it is as fresh a read or listen to as if written now. The dynamics and interplay between the boys on the island is described brilliantly and life on it including vivid descriptions of the island itself written superbly. Martin Jarvis was a very good choice of narrator.

Gripping story, magnificently read

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